


We tripped lightly along the ledge

by rydia



Series: The upswing [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Felileth Week, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, Flashbacks, Mentioned Golden Deer Students (Fire Emblem), Pre-Relationship, mentions of Claudevain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25283956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rydia/pseuds/rydia
Summary: Tired after a long day working on the war effort, Claude and Byleth take a trip down memory lane over a pot of tea, and Byleth makes a startling discovery about her feelings for one of her former students.Written for Felileth week day 4: sweet
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth & Claude von Riegan
Series: The upswing [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922080
Comments: 10
Kudos: 100





	We tripped lightly along the ledge

**Author's Note:**

> This basically works as a prequel to one of my [other Felileth fics](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21374872/chapters/50916838) but you don't need to read it to understand this story. All you need to know is that it's Verdant Wind and Sylvain and Felix have been recruited. Enjoy!

“Did you hear Felix and Lorenz got into another argument today?” Claude asks the question casually, watching Byleth over his rim of his teacup. At Felix’s name, Byleth glances up briefly.

“Mmm, no, but I suppose they’ll never get along,” she murmurs in reply, taking a sip of tea as her gaze lowers again to read the letter in front of her. She resists the urge to rub her tired eyes. That Lorenz and Felix are still arguing now, five years after they’d attended the Officer’s Academy together, does not surprise Byleth. They’re like chalk and cheese.

Across the table, Claude lets out a short huff of laughter. “I suppose it’s not too bad. I sincerely thought Felix wouldn’t get along with _any_ of the Golden Deer when he joined.”

Her lips quirk slightly upwards. “He wasn’t that bad, Claude.”

“I beg to differ, Teach. Shall we recount his first week in the class?”

Byleth finally raises her eyes to his. “We have work to do, stop being distracting. And anyway, you don’t need to remind me.”

She remembers that week too well to need a reminder.

-

> When Felix asks tersely to transfer into her class, Byleth finds she isn’t really surprised. He’s one of the students not in the Golden Deer that she’s already spent some time around, because he’d demanded she spar with him and then sighed heavily when she’d told him he’d have to wait – after all, her focus was on her actual students.
> 
> She’d liked him even then, despite the sometimes tiresome competitiveness. So she’d accepted him into the Golden Deer and had wondered how he’d get along with the others.
> 
> In the few months since she’s become a teacher, Byleth has become very fond of her students. They pull emotions from her that she’s never experienced, and which can sometimes be overwhelming. Not all of them are good, either. She’d never had to deal with someone like Lorenz before. Or Leonie. Or Hilda. Or–
> 
> Well, let’s just say the Golden Deer are a colourful bunch in more ways than one. But Byleth adores her students, and she’s come to learn that all of them are sweet, in their very different ways. The exception to that might be Sylvain, the first transfer into her class, who’d landed like a Thoron spell in her classroom, riling up Lorenz and flirting with all of the girls, and when Claude had said, “ _you do know Lysithea is a child, don’t you?_ ”, Lysithea had been more irritated with _that_ than she’d been with Sylvain. And she’d been plenty irritated with Sylvain.
> 
> Byleth had managed to wrangle the classroom back under control, even if Sylvain was still sometimes trying, especially with her. _Especially_ since he’d found out she had a crest, but he’d settled down in class and is managing to do well while appearing to look like he's making no effort. Byleth can handle Sylvain.
> 
> But it’s enough to make her concerned about how Felix will fit into the class – another Faerghus noble.
> 
> Byleth doesn’t know that much about Felix. He likes swords, and is obsessed with honing his skills. She hasn’t quite figured out where that obsession stems from yet. But she accepts him into the class.
> 
> A few days before he officially becomes a Golden Deer, Byleth has dinner with him and Sylvain. She learns a bit more about him there.
> 
> Felix does not like sweet food. Or strong, sweet smells. He is not a sweet person, and he will be the second student of hers that Byleth can’t find a way to describe as sweet.
> 
> It's only the next day that Byleth realises there _is_ an exception to Felix’s dislike of sweet things, and that is sweet people.
> 
> She sees him smiling at Annette in the greenhouse as they talk before doing their chores. It’s enough to make Byleth still where she’s crouched, doing some digging in the soil, watching them. This is the first time she’s ever seen Felix smile, and as the two get to work, Byleth can’t help but watch with a furtive fascination as Annette sings and hums and Felix keeps that tiny smile on his face. He probably doesn’t even realise he's doing it.
> 
> It’s enough to make Byleth think he’ll settle into the Golden Deers better than Sylvain had.
> 
> .
> 
> She’s wrong, of course.

-

“Teach.” Claude draws her out of her memories with his playful tone. He leans forward and turns the letter she’s been trying to read for the last hour over so that the words are hidden. “It’s late and we’ve been at this all day. There’s nothing here that can’t wait until tomorrow.”

She raises her eyebrows. “So are you going to get out of my room and let me sleep?”

He leans back, crossing his arms and regarding her with glinting green eyes. “No, because you’ll just get back to work if I leave. I am humbly asking you, my friend, to indulge me.”

Byleth keeps staring at him, dead-eyed, but Claude has long since grown immune to it. In fact, he seems to take her silence as permission to keep talking. He takes a generous sip of his tea, looking contemplative. “Well. I suppose I’ll start then. Let’s see…” He takes a deep breath. “In Felix’s first week in the Golden Deer class, he got into an argument with Lorenz every day, called Hilda a silly little girl and managed to make her more angry than I’ve _ever_ seen her. He upset Marianne, which made Hilda even more angry, and then Leonie got wind of it and threatened him. He knocked Lysithea’s sweets to the floor – how he’s still alive, no one knows – and told Ignatz painting was a waste of time, and told _me_ that I was an arrogant schemer whose only redeeming quality was that I wasn’t _the boar._ All of this in between speaking to Sylvain how he usually does. The only person he didn’t manage to insult was Raphael and that’s only because he made the mistake of challenging Raphael to a brawl and I’m pretty sure he couldn’t speak afterwards because he was a smear on the ground.” Claude pauses for effect. “Felix Fraldarius, good with a sword, and not much else.”

Byleth, removed from that stressful week by five years, is able to listen with vague amusement to Claude’s tirade. But her lips turn downwards at the end. “Claude,” she says, a note of warning in her voice.

“Oh, I know, he’s not that bad, and he’s even bearable these days–”

That makes Byleth drop her eyes because she wouldn’t know, it’s not like Felix speaks to her anymore.

Claude is still talking. “I even think he’d be embarrassed about it all, now.”

-

> Hilda is sweet, but cloyingly so. As much as Byleth likes the girl, her sweetness is too much of a ploy, a way for her to manipulate people for reasons borne out of her own insecurity.
> 
> It’s no wonder Felix flinches away from her. Hilda’s sweetness isn’t like Annette’s. It’s unbearable for him, too saccharine and fake.
> 
> Hilda eyes up Felix the first day he’s in the Golden Deer classroom. Beside her, Claude shakes his head lightly and says in a low voice, “ _I wouldn’t_ ,” but Hilda ignores him, having not yet learned to trust him.
> 
> She attempts to wheedle Felix into doing her chores after class. The glare he cuts her is icy, and the barbed insult that follows has Hilda narrowing her eyes at him. That’s as far as it goes that day, because Felix storms off, but Hilda tries it again the next day, with similar results. Her own returning verbal jabs at Felix are drenched in smiles as she twirls a lock of pink hair around her fingers, the picture of girlish innocence.
> 
> Byleth is torn on whether she should interfere or not because they have to learn how to talk to each other, and no one is being violent…
> 
> … and then Lorenz inserts himself, with some notion of protecting Hilda’s honour. And as Hilda bats her eyelashes at Lorenz, Byleth can’t help but sigh because that girl is more than capable of defending herself.
> 
> But it seems Lorenz’s mere presence is an irritant to Felix and Byleth make a note to never put them on the same chore assignments. Some people can learn to work together, and others will never mix.
> 
> She breaks up the argument by fixing a glare on Felix and telling him to meet her in the training grounds. It makes him look triumphantly at Lorenz and Hilda, like he’s won something, and Hilda rolls her eyes.
> 
> “He thinks the extra training isn’t a punishment,” she mutters, incredulous.
> 
> .
> 
> In the training grounds, Byleth tosses a wooden sword at Felix.
> 
> “Don’t let Hilda wind you up,” she tells him.
> 
> Felix easily catches the sword, examining it carefully. There’s still a storm in his eyes. “She’s a lazy nuisance.”
> 
> Byleth’s eyebrows raise. “She isn’t, and you know the rules. I won’t listen to you badmouth other students.”
> 
> “But she–“
> 
> “Hilda has to learn her methods won’t work on everyone, just as much as she has to learn that she can rely on herself. Now.” Byleth raises her sword. “Do you want to keep talking, or start training?”
> 
> Felix’s eyes raise to hers, lifting his sword. “A stupid question, Professor,” he says before lunging towards her.
> 
> When she beats him, he scowls and wipes the sweat from his face.
> 
> “Again,” he demands.
> 
> .
> 
> Nearly all of the Golden Deer complain to her about Felix that first week. Byleth listens to their complaints patiently and admonishes those who need it – Hilda, Lorenz – and promises to speak to Felix.
> 
> That weekend, on her free day, she takes him to the training grounds again. He’s clearly pleased about the extra training, and Byleth goes harder on him than she ever has with any of her students before.
> 
> Their training swords clash, again and again. Not once can be best her and what’s more, she makes her wins look easy.
> 
> Felix grows more frustrated as the day wears on. Byleth can see the tremble in his arms. For all that Faerghus does to prepare their children for battle, his experience is nothing compared to Byleth’s.
> 
> Although she expects that he’ll beat her some day. She looks forward to it happening.
> 
> When the training sword slips from his exhausted fingers she finally relents.
> 
> “You don’t have to like your classmates,” Byleth tells him. “But they’re my students too, and I will send you back to the Blue Lions if you continue like this. If you want to learn from me, you’ll have to play nice with the rest of them.”
> 
> He frowns at that, looking away from her, and Byleth thinks he might be weighing it up, deciding if being around the the Golden Deer is worth putting up with to continue training with her.
> 
> In the end he gives a jerky nod, leaving Byleth wondering if he really means it.
> 
> .
> 
> But he does, proving it with actions, not words, and his behaviour improves quickly.

-

“It was a bad start,” Byleth admits to Claude. But she wants to defend Felix, knowing he had complicated reasons for his anger back then even if that wasn’t an excuse to take it out on others. “But he didn’t stay like that. Being in the Deer was good for him. He made friends with everyone, in the end.” She frowns, and then amends, “Well, except for Lorenz.”

Claude smiles mirthlessly. “And me.”

Her frown deepens. “Felix isn’t your friend?”

“I like having him on my side in a battle, and I’m glad he’s fighting with us in this war,” Claude replies honestly. “But I don’t want to have tea with him.”

“Hmm.” Byleth regards her own cup of tea. “You should. You have similar tastes in tea blends.”

“No, thanks. Unlike you, I have no interest in talking about swords for an hour.”

-

> Claude circles Felix warily, trying to suss out the newest recruit to the Golden Deer. He’d done the same to Sylvain when he’d first joined the class, too, but that had been different. Sylvain had circled Claude too, both of them slowly getting closer and closer. Byleth wonders what will happen when they collide.
> 
> Felix mostly ignores Claude. He’d joined the class for Byleth, not for him, and he didn’t care about the political repercussions of a major Faerghus noble joining the Golden Deer. That's all unimportant to him – he’d simply gone to the stronger teacher.
> 
> But Sylvain revels in the upset, delighted by the angry letters from his father and positively gleeful at the prospect of winning the Battle of the Eagle and Lion under the banner of the Golden Deer, not the Blue Lions.
> 
> So Claude watches carefully from afar as Felix attempts to make nice – as much as Felix is capable of.
> 
> .
> 
> It isn’t really a surprise that Felix’s first friend in the Golden Deer is Raphael. Sweet, helpful Raphael. He has the quality Felix most likes in a person – he’s always enthusiastic to train. He had even been happy to pick up a sword when asked, but that had been no challenge for Felix, who then decided he would learn how to brawl.
> 
> Byleth is a little concerned at first. Felix already trains so much. But she needn’t have worried. Raphael might enjoy training but he enjoys eating just as much. _And_ he enjoys being around the others. He doesn’t lock himself away training for hours and hours like Felix and, in fact, manages to get Felix eating with the rest of the Golden Deer, drawing him to the dining hall after their sessions.
> 
> And that’s how Felix becomes friends with most of the others, beginning from the day he gives Lysithea his dessert.

-

With a flare of sadness, Byleth realises she hasn’t had tea with Felix since she’s returned. She misses that. She misses him. “We talk about other things sometimes,” Byleth protests to Claude. “He’s sweet.”

“Sweet?” Claude blinks. “ _Sweet_? Are we still talking about Felix Fraldarius?”

“He like cats.”

”He–“ Claude puts his cup back in its saucer heavily as he starts laughing. “ _He likes cats_.”

“What?” Byleth feels herself getting defensive, even though it’s nice to see Claude laugh like this. “He does. We both feed the cats around the monastery.”

Claude laughs for another moment before sobering up. “Oh, Teach.” He looks at her with a calculating expression. It’s not one she’s seen directed at her for some time, and it makes her fidget.

“ _What_ , Claude?”

He gets himself under control, face smoothing out. “My friend, I think you are the one who is sweet.” He pauses, taking in her furrowed brows and downturned mouth. “Sweet on Felix, that is.”

Byleth shakes her head. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Alright.” Claude leans forward across the table. “I’m going to explain it using a phrase Sylvain taught me.”

“Oh, no–“

He ignores her faint exclamation. “I think that you _like like_ Felix.”

“What–“

“Not just like. You _like like_ him.” He takes another sip of his tea, clearly enjoying her reaction. Knowing Claude, he’s probably also enjoying the thought that he’s ferreted a secret out of her.

One of Byleth’s hands presses into her cheek, feeling the heat of her own blush. “I can’t believe the reigning Duke of the Alliance talks like this.”

He chuckles at that. “I just thought to explain it to you in terms you can understand.”

She colours even deeper. “I don’t–“

“Ah, ah,” he interrupts again. “Don’t lie.”

“I’m not.” Byleth struggles to find the words, her mind racing. She’s liked Felix ever since he’d been her student. They’d spent a lot of time together, and then he’d been selected as the Golden Deer’s dancer for the White Heron Cup and they…

Byleth knew even then that she spent far more time with Felix than she did with any other student, except possibly Claude. But it had been different with both of them. Claude had become a friend – her first friend, as she’d been his. It had taken time, but they’d gotten there in the end.

But Felix…

It had always been different with Felix in a way she’d never let herself think about.

And now, five years later, she’s very _aware_ of Felix in a way she hasn’t been about anyone else, ever in her life. She finds herself distracted by the way his hair falls around his face, contemplating how it would feel to touch, or transfixed when he tilts his head back and exposes his neck when he takes a long drink of water. In meetings, her eyes keep landing on his forearms where his sleeves are rolled up and her thoughts wander as she wonders if his skin is soft, and if those strong arms are strong enough to hold her up.

Her breath catches as something that should have been very obvious occurs to her. She doesn’t think about _anyone_ else like this.

_Claude is right._

“Teach?” Claude is staring at her with his eyebrows raised, oblivious to her realisation.

“I didn’t know,” she mutters. “I didn’t. I…”

His expression shifts into something sympathetic. “Ah.” A pause. “So I’m right?”

She sighs. “Yes, Claude, you’re right. I… I _like like_ Felix.”

He hides a smile behind his hand. “Can’t say I get what you see in him, but I’m happy for you.”

Shaking her head, Byleth suddenly feels miserable. “Don’t be, he doesn’t even talk to me anymore. So it–“ she gestures vaguely ”–it doesn’t matter. I’ll get over it.”

“Aw, Teach, that’s not like you. So he’s been a bit prickly since you came back. It’s _Felix_.”

She pours herself more tea. “It doesn’t matter,” she repeats, firmly. “We’re at war.”

“I hope you realise you sound like him when you talk like that.”

Shrugging, she takes a sip of her drink. “It’s true.”

“It is,” he responds slowly. “But, you know, Felix might not be speaking to you these days but he sure is looking at you a whole lot.”

Byleth stares at him, trying to figure out if Claude’s telling the truth. Except she knows he is. She just doesn’t know what to make of that.

“He looks away as soon as you look at him, though. Because you look at him a whole lot too. In fact,” Claude says with amused satisfaction, “You might even call it _sweet_.”

-

> Marianne is the last friend Felix makes in the Golden Deer. Quiet, soft-spoken Marianne, who shies away from Felix’s biting words and sits far away from him in class. Byleth never pairs them up, not wanting to risk anything that might upset the progress Marianne has been making throughout the year.
> 
> It’s not until Remire and that awful battle that it changes.
> 
> There are more of the infected villagers than they’d expected, and Marianne is taken unawares.
> 
> It’s Felix who saves her, although he gets injured in the process. Marianne heals him even as he snaps at her to pay more attention in the future. When Marianne fumbles and tries to say sorry, Felix dismisses it.
> 
> “Don’t apologise. Just do better in future.”
> 
> It’s strange to think a friendship formed from that, but Byleth sees them talking sometimes after that. Felix has no time for Marianne’s self deprecation, but she seems to appreciate his blunt, straightforward attitude in her own way.
> 
> Tentatively, Byleth puts them on stable duty together, and quietly checks on them. What she finds makes her smile.
> 
> Marianne is telling Felix – in a halting and quiet voice, but still _talking_ – about Dorte as Felix feeds the horse apples and pets his nose. There’s a quiet look of contentment on his face that sticks in Byleth’s mind for a long time.

-

Byleth can feel her cheeks heating again. “Claude, it’s really not something we should be wasting time on.”

He shrugs lazily. “I disagree. I’ve spent the last five years juggling Alliance nobles to stop the Empire from invading while I waited for you to come back to us. Let me enjoy something frivolous.”

“Stop making me feel guilty,” she groans.

“Not my intention,” Claude responds with a small smile. “But if it works…”

“You won’t tell him, will you?”

He clearly picks up on the anxious note in her voice, and leans forward, saying earnestly, “My friend, I would never. I like to gather secrets, not share them. That makes them not secrets.”

Byleth’s lips twitch. “Hoarding secrets.”

“Yes, at least until it’s beneficial to reveal them.” His eyebrows raise. “And it would never be beneficial to betray your trust, Teach.”

“Because you’d lose a strong ally?” she asks, arch.

“No, because I’d lose a friend.”

It’s a startlingly honest comment from Claude, and it makes her smile and ask, “Do _you_ like like anyone, Claude?”

His laugh is incredulous. “We’re talking about you, not me.”

“You and Sylvain–“

“Woah, you’re just getting right into it, aren't you?”

“Yes, I am.” She waits expectantly.

Claude lets out a long breath, looking up at the ceiling. “It’s complicated.”

She hums in sympathy and decides not to push him. “It’s our fault, really, isn’t it? For _like liking_ Faerghus nobles.”

“Is it because it’s so cold up there, do you think? Is that why they’re so emotionally stunted?”

Byleth resists the urge to point out that she was probably the most emotionally stunted out of all of them. Or, at least, she had been.

“I don’t think they are,” she says softly. “But they’ve both been through a lot. And Felix is–“ She cuts herself off, realising she was going to say _sweet_ again.

But Claude obviously guesses what she’d been about to say, and grins. “Cute. Perhaps, it's.. ah, what is that saying I’ve heard… cold hands, warm heart?”

“Felix’s hands aren’t cold,” she replies, a little confused.

“Teach.” Claude is laughing at her again. “It’s an expression. And _how_ do you know that?”

-

> Her father’s death leaves her bereft. It leaves her cold and makes her shiver even when she’s sitting in front of a roaring fire. She thinks again and again of how she might have saved him and for once Sothis is endlessly patient as she explains that it wasn’t her fault.
> 
> The little goddess shares Byleth’s grief.
> 
> But it brings her little comfort. Even the attempts of her students to help can’t warm her up.
> 
> Unable to sleep, Byleth makes her way to the training grounds, setting up and attacking the dummies in the hope that exhaustion will eventually hit her.
> 
> But for once, training just seems to make her feel worse, because in the back of her mind she can hear her father’s advice with each strike, taking her back to some of her strongest childhood memories – of learning the sword under Jeralt’s guidance.
> 
> With a shout of pain, Byleth throws the sword away. It bounces off the wooden dummy before hitting the ground, and Byleth sinks to her knees, feeling lost.
> 
> “Professor.”
> 
> Her head jerks up, turning towards the voice. It’s Felix, half shrouded in darkness at the edge of the training grounds. She hadn’t even heard him come in.
> 
> “What are you doing here?” she asks, an edge to her voice, not wanting anyone to see her like this.
> 
> He steps towards her, and she can see he looks a little uncomfortable. “I saw you leave your room.”
> 
> “So you followed me.” Despite her best efforts, she sounds accusatory.
> 
> “I was worried,” he snaps, looking away. “No one has seen you in days.”
> 
> “Oh.” Byleth turns back to the training dummy, not sure what to say to that. And then, because this is Felix, she asks, “Do you want to train?”
> 
> With a huff, Felix steps closer until he’s standing in her line of vision again. “Not now. But tomorrow.” He holds out a hand for her. “So you better go get some sleep. When I beat you, I don’t want it to be because you’re too tired.”
> 
> Byleth stares at his hand for a beat, surprised, taking in the long fingers and pale skin she’s used to seeing clenched around the hilt of a sword.
> 
> She reaches for his hand. His grip is firm and warm, and he helps haul her upright. His fingers squeeze tight for a moment before he lets go, stepping away from her, his gaze on the opposite wall.
> 
> Byleth swallows heavily, wanting nothing more than to grab his hand again. That quick touch of his skin against hers had been… pleasant.
> 
> The warmth stays with her, even as they leave the training grounds and walk back to the dormitories in silence. When they stop outside the door, Felix crosses his arms.
> 
> “I’m not going to give you empty platitudes about your father. I know what it is to lose someone and how useless those words are. They don’t help.” Felix pauses, and Byleth watches him in silence, transfixed by the way he looks under the moonlight and at the expression on his face. Serious, as he so often is, but… warmer than usual. “But I’ll be there when you seek your revenge. And I’ll be in the training grounds in the morning, so you better turn up.”
> 
> Byleth feels something shift inside her as she listens to him, like something has thawed. She smiles at him, small and tremulous, but a smile nonetheless.
> 
> “Thank you, Felix,” she says, and he flushes and steps away – flees, really, with a muttered goodnight.
> 
> Byleth curls her fingers against her palm as she watches him leave, remembering his warmth.

-

In hindsight, perhaps she should have realised her feelings sooner.

Sheepishly, she says, “He held my hand once.”

Claude presses his lips together and Byleth can see that he’s trying really hard not to laugh at her again. She appreciates the effort. Finally, he says, voice trembling from effort, “Wow, Teach, spare me the explicit details, I’ll be thoroughly scandalised.”

”Claude–“

“Don’t let Seteth catch wind of this frankly _obscene_ behaviour.”

“ _Claude_ ,” she repeats, but she’s smiling. “He was helping me. It was just after my father died.”

That makes Claude sober up, his mouth twisting in sympathy and perhaps something else as he thinks back on that time. He hadn’t been the most compassionate in the face of her grief, asking for Jeralt’s diary. But he’s apologised since then, and he had kept that diary safe for her for five years, returning it to her not long ago.

“I see,” he murmurs. “And let me guess? He was _sweet_.”

“In his own way, yes.” Byleth is firm in her answer, glaring at Claude, daring him to poke fun at what had been a nice moment. Even now she remembers how Felix’s touch had felt, fleeting as it had been.

Claude holds up his hands as if in apology. “So, we have established many things this evening. Felix is sweet and has warm hands and you _like like_ him–“

Byleth rolls her eyes and he makes a sound of disapproval.

“ _And_ I see you’ve picked up some bad habits from Hilda. So now, the question is: what are you going to do about it?”

“Haven’t thought about it.” She shrugs. Tried not to, would perhaps be closer to the truth. What she'd told Claude before had been true enough, though – they're at war. It hardly does to dwell on things like this.

“Hmm. You are a person of action, are you not? Rather like Felix? You come to me for the witty wordplay, I know, but–“

“Claude,” she interrupts, voice firm again. “I’m not asking for your advice.”

That seems to disarm him, and he pauses for a moment before he smiles at her. “Understood. Hilda is probably better for it, anyway.” He considers. “Actually, no, not when it comes to Felix.”

Byleth smiles slightly at that, Claude becoming unfocused before her as her thoughts drift away. Felix has been extremely short with her – when he isn't outright avoiding her – ever since she’d returned, making her wonder why he’d even come back to Garreg Mach at all. For Sylvain? It makes her question if he even likes her at all. And not _like like_ likes her. Just regular _likes_ her.

She sighs.

Claude is right. She is a woman of action. And she hasn’t even sparred with Felix yet. She wants to see how far he's come in the last five years. Tomorrow, she decides, she'll seek him out.

And perhaps discover if he’s still as sweet as he was five years ago.

**Author's Note:**

> [Edge of Dawn plays on the kazoo]
> 
>  _ReaACH foRrr my hAAND_  
> 
> 
> This fic came about because of this problem:  
> Writing Felileth: wow I sure miss Claude  
> Writing Claudeleth: wow I sure miss Felix


End file.
